I am currently the Shanghai correspondent for the Associated Press. My reporting has focused on how globalizing criminal networks are taking advantage of China’s rise. I have written about rampant fraud in the anti-counterfeiting industry -- part of an award-winning series about why Western firms are losing the fight against fakes -- as well as money laundering and synthetic drugs.

Prior to China, I reported from Italy, India and Myanmar for the AP. In India an award-winning investigation into a leading microfinance company’s cover-up of borrower suicides prompted the state government to press for prosecutions. In Myanmar, my reporting helped reveal that the U.S. let sanctions languish as it wooed Myanmar’s ruling generals. I also showed how crony tycoons were poised to benefit most from the nation’s economic and political opening.

Prior to joining the AP, I was part of an award-winning Newsweek team that investigated modern-day slavery in global supply chains. I have contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, and Harper’s magazine, among others.

Before becoming a journalist, I worked in a developmental neurobiology lab and studied dance. I have also worked as a shepherdess, a waitress, a fact-checker and a failed French secretary. I am the proud mother of two.
                

EDUCATION & LANGUAGES 

I graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College, with degrees in interdisciplinary studies and biology.

Working languages:
- English
- Italian
- Mandarin (HSK 4)
- Spanish (reading proficiency)

AWARDS

2019

Osoborn Elliott Prize - THE ASIA SOCIETY

Joe & Laurie Dine Award - OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB

Part of team recognized for “China Clamps Down,” stories documenting increased social control in Xi Jinping’s China, where the Communist Party is positioning itself as the sole arbiter of what people see, hear, say -- and even how to pray.

2017

Honorable mention - THE SCOOP AWARD SOCIETY OF PUBLISHERS IN ASIA

After a Washington DC-based anti-counterfeiting group’s controversial decision to admit Alibaba, we revealed that the group’s president secretly owned Alibaba stock. Within 12 hours, the Chinese e-commerce giant was kicked out of the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition.
 

2016

First Prize,  Excellence in Business Reporting, Society of Publishers in Asia

“The Double-Dealers Behind China’s Counterfeiting Industry, an AP Investigation”

“This is a remarkable, deeply reported investigation into the numerous parties who are involved in facilitating China's vast counterfeiting industry. It is comprehensive and beautifully written. Excellent journalism.”
-- Judges

First Place, Business News Coverage,
National Headliner Awards

 “The Double Dealers Behind China’s Counterfeiting Industry”

  

2014

First Place, News Series, National Headliner Awards

“Myanmar”
Associated Press staff, Myanmar

 

2012 - 2013

Outstanding Business Story, South Asian Journalists Association

“Lender’s Own Probe Links It to Suicides”
Erika Kinetz, Associated Press

Honorable Mention, Enterprise Reporting, Associated Press Media Editors

“Killed By Debt”
Erika Kinetz, Associated Press

2009

Award of Excellence, Excellence in Human Rights Reporting, Society of Publishers in Asia

“Lured into Bondage”

George Wehrfritz, Erika Kinetz, Jonathan Kent, Joe Cochrane, Jonathan Adams, Ron Brownlow, Marites Vitug, Tonette Orejas, Sonia Kolesnikov Jessop, Sudip Mazumdar, Akiko Kashiwagi for Newsweek.

“It is exactly what great human rights reporting should be: A heavily researched, nuanced and multifaceted look at the exploitation of millions of emigrants merely seeking to improvetheir lives. It produced a powerful picture of globalisation's ugly underbelly. The article, while brief, covered all the bases. It really went beyond the norm. This shows what a regional publication can do with the proper application of resources to a subject. Multinational reporting like this connects the dots in important ways and it is rarely done this well.” -- Judges